Tackling That First Draft: How Editors Can Help Nervous Writers 

© Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

Coming up with a first draft is a challenge for almost every writer, even those with years of experience and walls full of awards. Few writers can sit down, flex those typing fingers, relax the shoulders and pour out a word-perfect manuscript on the first try. These tips for dealing with first drafts should help both professional and new writers, as well as editors who work with people who aren’t typically writers and find the process intimidating — and editors who want to try writing themselves.  

Starting the process

My writing process for both personal and client projects is often almost automatic: I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with entire sentences ready to jump out of my head, so I get up and start writing. I don’t try to organize or fine-tune; I just let it flow. Sometimes the result makes perfect sense in the morning; sometimes I have to revamp the whole thing. 

For writing assignments from clients, I usually start with an outline, either written out or in my head. It can be as simple as Intro, Discussion, Conclusion, but I usually aim for more substance; subheadings to organize my thoughts and make it easier to fill in details, who should be quoted, etc.  

Sometimes I start with a headline. Sometimes a strong lede (opening) sentence or paragraph seems to write itself; sometimes I just plunge in and start writing, often using quotes from sources to move the work along. I’ve even had a client who provided a lede sentence to make sure I knew exactly what they expected to see.

I pride myself on producing pretty clean first drafts, but I remind myself that no first draft is perfect and self-editing is simply part of the writing process. Whenever possible, I set a writing project aside for a day or so and go back to it when my brain and eyes are fresh, and more likely to pick up on anything I should fix in self-editing. 

Helping non-writers

Many non-writers are expected to contribute to in-house publications and find that responsibility terrifying — they might be great at their jobs but nervous about describing their programs. Aspiring independent authors often have great story ideas, for fiction or nonfiction, but no sense of how to get started (or wrap up). 

Editors, in-house or freelance, can play an important role in helping non-writers feel comfortable with writing a first draft. In the editing mode, I let non-writers know that even though I’ve been writing professionally since high school, I sometimes still find it hard to get that first draft going, so I know how they feel. 

Here’s how thoughtful, considerate editors can help. 

• First and foremost, assure those writers that you will make them look good, so they don’t have to worry about using perfect punctuation and grammar. 
• Let the neophyte writer know that it’s common to feel intimidated when facing a blank page and filling it with words that make sense, convey a message and engage a reader. 
• Give a word length so they don’t panic about what’s expected or over-write so much that editing takes as much effort as the original writing. 
• Provide a style guide — and keep it short and simple. No new writer is going to plow through Chicago, AP, Canada Press Manual, etc. Give them Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. My brother, a non-writer who joined a writers’ group and has started writing short fiction and nonfiction, says it’s the best resource he knows of. If it works for him, that’s a good sign. 
• Set a deadline that’s earlier than when the piece is needed, so there’s time for editing and revisions. 
• For articles, provide a headline, opening sentence, and/or outline as a starting point and a sense of theme and scope, to help writers organize their ideas. That saves time and effort for all. Provide some topic-related questions for the non-writer to pose to interview sources. Say they can use a Q&A format, which can ease the path to a finished article because it doesn’t need transitions.
• For aspiring book authors who feel stuck, help them create an outline and story line, maybe even a list of characters with attributes, as a starting point. 

A recent post to the Freelance Writing Jobs Facebook group expressed the first-draft philosophy perfectly: “A gentle reminder for anyone staring at their messy first draft today … ‘The first draft is a sculptor’s block of marble — what matters is not its initial shape, but your willingness to chip away at it.’”
“Your rough draft isn’t a failure — it’s raw material waiting to be shaped into something beautiful. Trust the process, trust the revision …”

And trust your instincts, as writer or editor!

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) has been writing professionally since high school and editing/proofreading for almost as long. 

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